A Redhead Walks into a Bullpen
by Ms.Chelle
Summary: His girls were already dead and after she died in that diner, his world shattered again. Does he have another chance to have his own family again?
1. Chapter 1

_I know I haven't updated 'Saving His Mockingbird' but this story line always pop up every time I tried to edit the other story._

_Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS._

* * *

><p>Tony was bored. Ziva was nowhere to be found and breaking rule three. McGee was down in the lab with Abby to fix the security breech. And Gibbs was in MTAC all day with Director Vance. He was all alone with paperwork to do. But doing paperwork <em>alone<em> is not making him feel better right now. He played solitaire instead though it still bores him.

"One move then it's game over." Her voice was so soft and it sounds familiar but not too familiar. He glanced up and saw a little redhead. He smiled.

"What can I do for you?" He asked politely which was very unlikely of him.

"I'm looking for Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Is he around?"

That's odd. Well, not exactly odd since every redhead with extremely good genes that pass by NCIS seemed to be looking for that certain silver-haired fox. But it was odd enough that this one is a very young girl. He examined her. Although young, she suit up quite well. She was wearing a white buttoned blouse, blue cardigan, blue above-the-knee skirt and stilettoes. Everything doesn't add up. His brows deepened.

"Are you sure you're asking for Gibbs?" He seemed to be asking that a lot.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. She pulled out a piece of paper from the right pocket of her cardigan. She unfolded it quickly and showed it to him.

He stretched his hand to grab the note but she hurriedly snatched it away. She stretched the paper instead and showed it in front of his eyelevel.

In a neat handwriting, there was then name of his boss and the address of NCIS headquarters including the country and zip code.

"I'm sure that I'm asking for the right person. You must be thinking why I'm asking for him." She read his mind. "Well, I think it's none of your business, Agent. But I really need to find Agent Gibbs." She _glared_.

He stopped staring at her and looked right into her eyes. Now he realized that this young girl has Gibbs' eyes and he swore that she mastered the infamous Gibbs' glare.

"Are you his daughter or something?" He knew Gibbs wasn't in a serious relationship for the past years and he doesn't have any child with his three ex-wives. And the only daughter that he had was long gone.

But before he could get an answer, his head slammed forward and almost hit the computer monitor. "Gibbs." He quickly recovered.

"Stop confusing the little girl, Tony." He warned.

Tony is more confused. "You know her, boss?"

Gibbs looked at the young girl. He didn't actually know her either. She seemed so familiar and his gut was telling him something that he cannot point out. It felt like she's almost like a daughter. _A daughter?_No. Kelly is his only daughter if he will not count Abby and Ziva.

He was unconsciously staring at her but didn't really see that she was staring at him back. She got him out of his train of thoughts. He didn't realize that she was towards him and stopped near his desk.

"Agent Gibbs?" He blinked at the sound of her voice. It was familiar. He knew that voice. But he hoped he was wrong. It's just so good if it was proven to be true but it will hurt much more if his thought was correct.

"Yes?" He answered. He saw his own eyes in her. A crystal cerulean blue.

She quickly answered him. "You see, I just came back from Europe. I haven't been in America for maybe 10 years, at least that's what I was told. Anyway, I -" her voice faltered. She didn't know exactly how to tell him. "I kind of need a place to stay and you're the only person that I know how to get to in this country." She looked at him sweetly but not too sweet as if she was going to break down and plea for a place to stay.

"Who send you to come here?" who would be crazy enough to let their child flew all the way to America alone and without a place to stay.

"My mom." She smiled. "Jenny Shepard." Her smile broadened while her eyes twinkle at the sound of the name of her mother.

While the child was gleefully reminiscing the memories of her mother, his world collapsed. He hadn't heard that name for almost four years. It's been too long. And this girl who looked like Jen, who dressed like Jen, who sounds like Jen, it's too much. It's like he was seeing Jenny right in front of him in a younger form. She had a daughter and he didn't know about it until now.

He looked up to her warm smile. He flashed back to that day when he called her and found out that Jenny died.

* * *

><p><em>Should I continue?<em>

_Comments, suggestions, criticisms anyone?_

**_-ToI_**


	2. Chapter 2

Her smile faded when she saw the look in his eyes. His icy cerulean eyes turned into dark blue and underneath it were the sorrow, pain and agony. Her mother taught her to be observant at a very young age. She had no doubts at her observation. "Agent Gibbs…" her voice was gentle. He looked up at her. The way she said his name was the same way Jenny used to call him and show her concern during her probie days. The gentleness of her voice was somehow similar to her mother's.

His mind quickly thought to get her to the conference room after he saw Tony listening to their conversation. "Come with me," he said and the girl followed him in the elevator and then he flipped the switch. He turned to look at her again at how much she looked like Jen.

"Agent Gibbs…" He saw that the shadow of her smile hadn't left yet. "I haven't heard from mom for four years. I was studying in Paris for a while and I can't go back home until now. And I only got your name and the Navy Yard's address."

"She left you _alone_ in Paris?" At the back of his head, he knew Jenny could do that… but to a child, her own daughter? Jenny will not do such a thing or at least that's what he thought.

"I have a guardian there but she said it would be better if nobody knew that she has a child. Someone might harm me or use me as their leverage if they knew that I'm the daughter of the Director of an armed federal agency." She clearly pointed out that her mother did nothing but to protect her even if it meant to send her to another continent.

"What about your father?" He hastily regretted that he asked that. He didn't want to know who replaced him in Jenny's life.

"She didn't have the chance to tell me before. She just told me he was her partner." His cardiac muscles contracted. He felt that his lungs forgot to provide him oxygen.

"How old are you?" He wasn't sure if she heard his voice cracked.

"I'm going thirteen this year. I was born in November 15, 1999." The next thing he knew was that he encircled his arms around her when she told him the year.

She didn't know how to react but the feeling in her stomach screams at her to accept the hug that this stranger was giving her. "She told me that you knew my father but based on your actions, I'll take it that you're my…" she hesitated. All her life she wanted to meet her father. And here he was, embracing her and taking all the time that the world stole. She took a deep breathe. "Dad?" Her voice was shaking. Her eyes were nearly full of tears but she wasn't the kind that will just outburst. But, she let a tear get away.

He hugged her tighter. He never thought that he will have a chance to be a father again. And this time, he didn't want to lose another child again. "Yeah, I'm your Dad" he replied. He kissed her on the front lobe of her left side brain.

He was kneeling when he hugged her. When he released his daughter, he was still holding her on her arms. She was staring at him and then she smiled like her mother's smile. "I'm Jamaika."

He chuckled.

She was thinking why he chuckle. "You don't like my name?" There was a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"No, I like your name" he shook his head. "That's the last word that I said to your mom –" then she cut him off.

"– when she left. I remember, she told me" she recalled the night that she asked about her name.

He flashed back to the moment when she left him in the plane.

_They were sitting in the plane when the pilot said that they could go down for an hour because the tracks were being used for the next two hours._

_Jenny turned to look at him. She looked very pale and a bit shaky. He was about to ask her if she was alright but she spoke first, "I'm going to go down and stretch my legs for a while."_

"_I'll go with you." He replied casually and was about to get up._

_She was already standing. "No, I'll be fine. I'll just leave my coat here." She left it hanging on the armrest near the aisle and grabbed her purse. "Is there anything –"_

"_Coffee. Jamaican –"_

"_blend, got it." She smiled and gave him a soft quick kiss on the lips. She disappeared through the river of passengers who was eager to get down too._

_His gut was telling him that something is going on but he doesn't know what it is. He thought maybe it was Jenny. Maybe she's in trouble or harm or worse. She's been gone for forty minutes. The pilot was telling them to go back to their seats. His head was poking out of the chairs, finding her._

_Finally, he followed his gut. He stood up and walked to the exit. A tall blonde flight attendant stopped him. "Monsieur, please go back to your seat now. The plane is about to take off." She said it in English with her thick French accent._

"_No, there's another passenger –" she cut him off._

"_All of our passengers are here, monsieur." She gave him a hint but it seemed that he didn't believe her. She hated to tell this but she needed to. The redhead woman asked her help to send her message. "This is not her flight, monsieur."The other flight attendant helped her stop him. She quickly added, "She's gone. I'm sorry" she had the unfortunate luxury to see the pain in his eyes but he quickly turned away and slumped into his seat with his head in his hands. Then, he saw her coat and the letter in the pocket. He spent the long hours in the plane reading the Dear John letter all over again, hoping that it contains a clue as to where she is._

He tried to focus on his daughter in front of him instead of reminiscing the past. His mind was like a whirlpool of questions but that certain question is the most suitable to ask first. "Who's with you?"

She shook her head. "No one." She stared at him without showing any kind of emotion. "My guardian doesn't know that I'm here."

He wasn't surprised about that. Jenny could escape her security details so Jam might pick it up too but he shouldn't tolerate this, "I need to call your guardian. I'm sure she's finding you now." He saw the girl stiffened.

She shook her head. "No, she might send me back there."

"Why would she do that?"

"To keep me safe. I don't want to be safe anymore. I want to see my mommy." He felt like his lungs abandoned him. She didn't know that her mother had been dead for four years. How is he going to tell her after he just found out that she is his daughter? He held onto her tightly and stared deeply into her cerulean blue eyes. He decided to keep it simple and blunt. "She's gone, Jam. She died four years ago."

The girl tilted her head and looked at him as if he had a grown another head. "No, she's not." She shook her head in denial. She was backing away from him.

"I know it's hard to accept it but-" she cut her off again.

"No! She's not dead!" She pushed him away and yelled at him again. She went to America to see her mother and now she found out that her mother's dead **for four years** and nobody seemed to care to tell her. Even her guardian. She isolated herself from her father and slowly slid down in the corner of the metal cubicle. She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around it. She bowed down her head and whispered to herself that her mother can't be dead. Her mother is somewhere out there fighting bad guys and kicking their ass.

Gibbs gripped the railing tightly and his knuckles are turning white. He wiped off his face with his other hand. It kills him to watch his daughter mourn for her mother. It felt like his flesh was ripping apart when he heard her soft sobs. After giving her a moment to be alone, he slowly come to her and sat beside her. He gathered her in his arms and she let him. He rubbed her back.

Words were not needed to be said. Words cannot bring her back again. Words cannot soothe the pain. Words were not enough to express the pain.

They just let silence comfort each other.

* * *

><p><em>I'm going to continue this story! Thanks to Shy Chey 97 for making me remember about this story! :D<em>

**_-ToI_**


	3. Chapter 3

She was on her way to NCIS when her burned phone rang. She answered the call and placed the phone between her cheek and shoulder while she avoided the traffic ahead of her. There were only two people who knew this number and she knew that either of the two will only call if they are in danger, their cover was blown or something terrible happened.

"_Maika's missing, Ziva" the voice skipped the greetings to tell her friend about their major dilemma._

Ziva hid the shock and panic of her voice, "since when?"

"_Eight or nine hours ago. I've looked everywhere. She's not here. I think she's in DC."_

"I'll find her. Don't worry." She quickly hung up and drove as fast as she could to Jenny's townhouse. Maika didn't know that it's already burned down. She might have gone around the vicinity once she saw that her mother's home turned into an abandoned and burned townhouse.

* * *

><p>Gibbs was relieved that the sobbing stopped. Somehow it lifted a little bit of weight of his pain. The pain of Jenny's death resurfaced again when she saw his daughter. He tried to push back the pain for his daughter. Right now, he doesn't have the luxury of mourning for Jenny. Right now, her daughter needs him.<p>

He tilted her head to look at her face to ask her if she wanted to eat something but he found out that she fell asleep. He brushed off the dried tears on her cheeks then all of a sudden, the image of Jenny sleeping in his arms flashed in his mind.

It was the time that she took a bullet in the thigh and then they hid in the outskirts of a small town in Serbia. She cried in pain when she disregarded his orders to stay in bed. Instead of lying and resting, she stood up and walked a few steps to find him but she fell on her knees and her screams echoed the small hut. The next thing he knew, he was on her side and lifted her up to bed. He gave her painkillers and whispered to her that she's gonna be alright. She fell asleep in his arms and he brushed off the dried tears on her face.

He got back to the present when his daughter stirred. He shifted her position and cradled her up in his one arm like a baby. He switched the emergency button and waited for the elevator to stop in the bull pen. He carried his daughter to his desk.

"Tony," he beckoned the younger agent in a low tone so he could not wake up the girl.

"Yes boss?" he whispered knowing that the boss will kill him if he wakes up a sleeping girl in the said boss' arms. He quickly came to the boss' side when the boss nodded.

"Get Abby's makeshift bed and bring it here." He ordered in a whisper. Before the younger agent get out of earshot, he added, "Faster, DiNozzo." The younger ran towards the elevator.

It was 1300 and the girl behind his desk was still sleeping. He knew he should wake her up and take her to lunch but before he could do that, his only female agent came out of the elevator. She looked exhausted. Her dark curls were sticking on her neck and forehead. He wondered where the hell she had been.

"Breaking rule 3 again, David?" he greeted her as she round her desk.

"It was an emergency, Gibbs. It will not happen again," she explained as she dumped her bag on the floor.

"That's what you said last time." He reminded but more likely he warned.

She was so lucky that Tony was nowhere to be found so he would not tease her and add up to her frustration. Tim was also missing so she guessed that Gibbs might grill her then give her a headslap afterwards. She was frustrated – no, frustrated is just an understatement. She spent the whole morning until noon to find Jenny's daughter. Jenny entrusted Maika to her and she felt that she let Jenny down for not finding her daughter. She needs to find Maika soon but she needed McGee's help to track Maika's phone.

She stood up from her chair and head towards the lab where she assumed where McGee was. Then, she saw a flash of red in the corner of her left eye when passed Gibbs' desk. She stopped and turned. Her breathing stopped when she caught the sight of the missing redhead who was beginning to wake up.

Gibbs saw Ziva's reaction and turned to see what she was staring at.

Maika's sleep induced words broke the silence of the MCRT area. "Daddy?" It felt surreal that she was calling her daddy. She still can't believe that she finally knew her father who seemed to give the world to her if she asks for it. She blinked a few times before her gaze stopped at her dad. He crouched to her eye level. "You want lunch, Jam?" She smiled at the use of her mother's nickname for her, knowing that her father didn't know that her mother calls her like that too. "I'm hungry." She mumbled in a yawn.

Her father helped her to stand up. She straightened up her skirt and raised her eye level. She saw the Israeli who used to live with her and her mom when they were in Cairo.

Ziva was frozen with wide eyes when she saw that it really was Maika who was sleeping behind Gibbs' desk and her assumption that Gibbs already knew that he is Maika's father was confirmed when the redhead called him Daddy.

"Aunt Ziva?" she recognized the Israeli slash her godmother and put a name on her mother's friend.

"Shalom Maika," she mumbled with a smiled. The girl had grown up. The last time that she saw Maika was when she sneaked out of Tony's bed when she and Tony had a mission in Paris.

She launched herself to her aunt. It felt like a long time since she last saw her Aunt Ziva. "Shalom Aunt Ziva!" She giggled when her aunt hugged her back.

"I was finding you this morning when I heard that you were missing," she glanced at Gibbs to know if he understood her 'emergency'. He just rolled his eyes and decided that he wouldn't head slap her.

"I flew here by myself," she proudly informed her aunt when she released herself from her aunt's tight grip. Her sapphire eyes glistened.

"I'm sure your mother must be so proud." She quickly wanted to take back her words. She didn't know if Maika's guardian told the child that her mother died.

The light in her eyes fade abruptly when she heard her aunt mentioned her mother. She felt weak again. She can't face again the truth that her mother is dead.

Once Ziva saw the darkened face of her goddaughter, she pulled Maika again in her arms. "I'm so sorry, Maika" she whispered.

The girl tried to keep her tears at bay and flinched when Ziva tried to hug her. "Don't touch me." She quickly burst out and got interested on her shoes. She didn't mean to be rude but she doesn't want to be reminded that her mother is dead and the hugs and comfort that other people try to give just bring back the memories of her mother who hugs her whenever she cries or feels lonely.

Ziva froze at the cold reply of the girl but she didn't expect the next words that came out from the girl. "Did you know…?" It was barely audible when she asked. She kept her gaze on the floor. Her face cannot be seen through the curtain of red hair. She didn't have to elaborate the question. She knew that her aunt knew exactly what she was referring to.

Ziva sighed and closed her eyes for a moment to think of how she will answer the question. When she was ready, she opened her eyes and kneeled so she can have an eye level with the girl. She reached out for Maika's arm, "Maika, I…"

But the girl backed away and lifted her arms to keep her aunt in place. She looked on the floor while shaking her head. "You knew." It wasn't a question anymore. Her voice had a hint of an accusation and anger. She got her answer when her aunt took a moment to answer back. "And you didn't tell me," she realized and told herself. She raised her glassy sapphire eyes from the floor and threw daggers at her aunt's chocolate brown orbs. "You visited me but you didn't tell me. Are you going to tell me at all, Aunt Ziva!" she exploded and screamed at her aunt's face. Her ocean blue eyes were filled with unshed tears and pain. She wanted to use what her aunt taught her against her aunt but strong arms pulled her back.

"Jam, let's go." Her father whispered in her ear as he pulled her in his arms.

She wiggled her way out. "No! You can't make me go!" Her parent's stubbornness was clearly passed on to their child. "How could you do this to me Aunt Ziva!" She felt betrayed that her mother's friend didn't told her that her mom was dead.

Her father held her tighter and lifted her up. She punched his back and screamed at her father to let her go as her father carried her on his shoulder. Tears were now flowing on her face. Before they reached the elevator, she gave a one last question at her aunt. "Did Kay know?" Kay was her protective detail, as her mother's boss called it. Kay started living with her since she was six years old but for her, Kay was her guardian, her friend. Kay was one of the two people who her mother entrusted her. She will not forgive Kay if Kay knew about her mother's death but refused to tell her.

Ziva was still kneeling on the floor when her goddaughter asked in a louder voice. Ziva found her goddaughter's sapphire blue eyes that had line of red around it as the tears finally escaped and her red hair was glued on the sides of her tear-filled face. Her chocolate brown eyes gave the unspoken apology that she can give when she nodded her head. The last thing that she saw before the elevator closed was that Gibbs cradled his daughter like a baby as she sobbed on his chest.

She didn't know how long she had been on the floor when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She heard a very familiar worried voice called her name and asked her what happened but all she could say was, "I failed Jenny, Tony."

* * *

><p><em>Thank you for the wonderful reviews! I can't believe that people still want to read this... I'm not rich to own a show like NCIS.<em>

**_-ToI_**


End file.
